Captain w/ power sword, artificer armor, jump pack, inferno pistol
8 Death Company w/ jump packs, power fist
10 Tactical Marines w/ flamer, heavy flamer, combi-flamer
Rhino w/ dozer blade
5 Tactical Marines w/ heavy flamer
5 Assault Marines w/ 2 meltaguns, veteran sergeant w/ power weapon, meltabombs
Stormraven w/ twin-linked multi-melta, twin-linked assault cannon (borrowed from the Executioners)
My opponent had to take an Allied Detachment as well, as dictated by the campaign rules.
Nemesor Zahndrekh
5 Immortals w/ tesla carbines
Nightscythe
10 Immortals w/ gauss blasters
5 Deathmarks
5 Wraiths w/ whip coils
Deathscythe
Captain Castigon breathed the fresh air deeply, happy to be out of the Apothecarion after his grevious wounding by the Genestealers. He was still getting used to his repaired flesh and fresh bionics, but he had insisted on leading another patrol, this one into the forests surrounding the Hive Capital of Liani Alpha, Renetta City. He was joined by a similar force, but had chosen to leave the Devastators in the capital, where the firepower would be most useful. Instead, a Stormraven with Tactical Squad Belero remained within reach. Castigon vowed to not be wrong-footed again.
Squad Razak reported movement ahead over the vox. Brother-Captain Castigon bounded forward, his jump pack easily allowing him to catch the squad's Rhino. Ahead, he could make out serpentine metallic forms, blinking in and out of visibility. Necrons...
He voxed the Stormraven to begin its approach. Necrons almost always meant air support was required.
We rolled up Hammer and Anvil deployment and Purge the Alien. Here's the table.
The Necrons won the roll off and chose to deploy first, deploying the Wraiths centrally and the large squad of Immortals in cover on the right. Nemesor Zahndrekh rode in the Nightscythe with the other Immortals.
I deployed my units to my right, with the smaller Tactical squad riding in my Stormraven.
The Wraiths advanced behind the terrain in the center of the table, while the Immortals held back.
I advanced my Rhino slightly, trying to tempt the Wraiths into a long charge. I spaced out the rest of my infantry in preparation for the arrival of the Deathscythe (I really hate them!).
Turn 2
The Nightscythe and Deathscythe both arrived (Zahndrekh chose the warlord trait that allowed him to add 1 to his reserve rolls). The Deathscythe easily destroyed my Rhino, and the Nightscythe gunned down 3 of the Tactical Marines that spilled out. The Deathmarks deep struck next to my Assault squad, killing 3 of them and wounding the Captain. The Wraiths advanced over the central terrain and tried to assault the Tactical Marines, but thankfully failed (and took a wound from overwatch).
I took this opportunity to counter-assault. The Captain and the remaining Assault Marines killed 2 Deathmarks with shooting while the Tactical squad finished off a Wraith.
The Assault Marines and Captain charged the Deathmarks and wiped them out. The Death Company charged into the Wraiths, and lost one member as their whip coils allowed them to strike first. Unfortunately, the Death Company absolutely flubbed their rolls and did only a single wound to the Wraiths.
Turn 3
The battle quickly came to center around the battle against the Wraiths. The Immortals started to move forward to support the combat, while the Deathscythe killed the last of the Assault Marines, leaving the Captain alone. The Wraiths killed three Death Company, who managed with reply with 3 wounds to the Wraiths, killing 2. Much better than they were able to manage on the charge.
My Stormraven showed up (despite Zahndrekh choosing a Warlord trait that subtracted 1 from my reserve), firing at the Deathcythe. Thanks to some excellent jinking, the Deathscythe only took one point of damage. Realizing that I really needed to kill the Wraiths, I charged the Captain and Tactical Marines into them. The Captain rolled an impressive 4 hits, but failed to wound at all (I'm noticing a trend with my charges). However, the Tactical Marines performed admirably and killed a Wraith by themselves. Only one more to go.
Turn 4
The Immortals continued their run up the board, while the Nightscythe Crew Stunned my Stormraven. The combat with the Wraiths dragged on, with no damage being caused on either side.
I didn't have much to do, since my Stormraven had to move straight ahead and everything else was in assault. However, my Stormraven did manage to kill an Immortal with it's assault cannons. The last Wraith killed a Death Company and made all of its saves, but fortunately I passed the break tests for my Captain and Tactical squad.
The Nightscythe zoomed into my deployment zone and deposited Zahndrekh and his Immortals there, ensuring the Necrons Linebreaker. The large squad of Immortals moved toward the center again and fired at the Stormraven, but failed to do any damage. In the Assault, the Blood Angels finally managed to drag down the last Wraith and consolidated toward the Immortals.
With my army finally freed up, it was time to try and get some more points. I didn't have many targets in range. The Stormraven swung around to target the Deathscythe again but failed to do any damage. The Captain led the Death Company and Tactical squad in charged the Immortals, wiping them out easily.
 |
| The Blood Angels vent their frustration on the unfortunate Immortals. |
Turns 6+7
The rest of the game was fairly uneventful. My infantry couldn't possibly reach Zahndrekh and his Immortals before the game ended, so they spent their time making sure the Necron flyers couldn't target them. My Stormraven moved to the enemy table edge to pick up Linebreaker.
The Necrons had 2 kill points, First Blood, and Linebreaker, while the Blood Angels had 3 kill points and Linebreaker. The result was a hard fought tie.
Brother-Captain Castigon surveyed the battlefield, fairly pleased with the results. His force was still largely intact, and the Stormraven was returning the wounded to Renetta City and Sanguinary Priest Raphael. The bulk of the Necrons had been eradicated, with only the commander and flyers escaping. He had no doubt that he would see them again as the invasion escalated.
Lessons Learned
1) Wraiths are really tough. They don't do that much damage, especially if you charge them, but they will soak up damage like champs. If Terminators were that durable, they'd see a lot more table time.
2) Nemesor Zahndrekh is deceptively useful character, despite his inability to fight at all. Being able to pick a new Warlord trait ever turn is really handy, especially when you use the Strategic traits to affect the whole battlefield.
3) I really miss having some sort of bad roll mitigation when I charge. I would really love to have a Chaplain lead my Death Company, but I'm locked into my Captain as my only HQ until the end of this phase of the campaign. Surprisingly, my Captain's master-crafted power sword turned out to be really useful.
4) I've been trying out different options for my Blood Angels fire support. Predators have been consistently disappointing, while Devastators are decent but limited by their lack of mobility. So far, I'm most happy with the Stormraven. It costs more and doesn't pack as much firepower as the other options, but it can get its guns where they need to be and it's really durable. I just need to paint up some for my Blood Angels.